Jimbo Fisher believes Auburn was cheated out of 1983 national championship

A few days before Auburn and Texas A&M face off during the 2023 season, Aggies coach Jimbo Fisher reflected back to the 1983 Auburn team.

Fisher spoke on his radio show earlier this week about that year and shared that he believes Auburn should’ve been awarded the AP national title that season.

Instead, the Tigers finished 11-1 and ranked No. 3 in the AP Poll.

“I will say this – I’ll give you a little bit of history here. In ’83, I’ll say this for Auburn. Auburn got cheated out of a national championship,” Fisher said. “In 1983 they won the SEC. They’re No. 3 in the country. They played seven top 20 ranked teams. That’s when Florida was loaded with Wilber Marshall and James Jones and that whole crew – Wayne Peace. They played Alabama, Georgia. Georgia had gone to three straight national championships. Herschel [Walker] had just left. Tennessee was loaded. I mean that whole schedule was [loaded].”

Auburn lost to Texas in Week 2 but ran the table the rest of the way.

The Tigers beat No. 5 Florida, No. 7 Maryland, No. 4 Georgia, No. 19 Alabama and No. 8 Michigan over their final five games of the season.

Auburn entered bowl season ranked No. 3 and beat Michigan 9-7 in the Sugar Bowl. The two teams in front of the Tigers in Nebraska and Texas both lost. However, instead of moving the No. 3 team up to No. 1, voters moved Miami from No. 5 to No. 1 after beating the Cornhuskers 31-30 in the Orange Bowl. Jimbo Fisher very much disagreed with that decision.

“Auburn’s No. 3 and beat Michigan 9-7 in the Sugar Bowl. So No. 1 loses, No. 2 loses. You played seven top 20 teams that year. … You’re going to bed thinking you’re national champions,” Fisher said. “What happened the next day is the AP Poll took Miami from No. 5 to No. 1, moved Nebraska to No. 2, left Auburn at 3. And they never won the national championship. That’s when they had Bo Jackson and they had a great team. That was Miami’s first national championship. I don’t mean they shouldn’t have got it. … But Auburn should’ve won it.”

Auburn does consider the 1983 team as national champions, even if the AP Poll disagreed. A few outlets did declare the Tigers as national champions, including the New York Times.

Auburn most recently won the national title in 2010 as Cam Newton and the Tigers beat Oregon in the BCS National Championship game.